Love most unlikely
by CookieLizard
Summary: Seven chapters, seven years at Hogwarts. Despite their fathers' past the acquaintance of Albus and Scorpius becomes friendship, or perhaps, even something more... Rated T just in case. Features mild slash.
1. Year one

When the parents were out of sight and the train had left the station, Albus tore himself away from the window and moved in search of a free compartment. James rushed to his friends, and Rose suddenly disappeared. He called her a couple of times, but having not received the answer, he picked up his search again.

Finally, he found the compartment. The only one that was free. _Almost_ empty. The only person sitting inside, was a boy with very bright blonde hair, who was looking out of the window, immersed in melancholy.

Albus hesitated. He knew, that his uncle would suffocate him, if he went into the compartment, which Draco Malfoy's son was in, but on the other hand – was he supposed to wander around the train in search of an empty compartment, he did not even know he would find? He shook his head, letting the vision of his uncle go, and opened the door.

'Is it free here?' he asked.

Scorpius lazily shifted his silvery eyes gaze to him. A quick flash of surprise appeared in his eyes, when he saw Albus Potter, but then he assumed an indifferent expression and nodded.

Albus still stood there, awkwardly, not knowing whether he should came in or ask if the boy didn't mind. He decided to ask.

'And um…?'

'Sit.', he interrupted, with a delicate shadow of a smile.

Albus sat opposite him. After a several minutes of a strained silence, he gathered the Gryffindor courage which ran through his veins, and he tried to start a conversation.

'So, um… Scorpius, right? I'm Albus Potter.' , he begun hesitantly and stretched out his hand.

The boy looked at him, without moving any part of his body. After a while, he nodded, as if he was trying to say "I know".

'Yes. I'm Scorpius. Malfoy.', he finally shook Albus' hand, who, by the way, was dying of embarrassment 'Nice to meet you'.

Albus relaxed a little, seeing, that Malfoy's eyes weren't full of icy despise, but were looking at him with the mix of curiosity and nonchalance.

'So, Scorpius' he rebuked himself for starting a sentence with "So" again 'Stressed with the first day?'

He had no idea, what on earth made him asked that, since Scorpius' face, was reflecting anything but stress. Actually, his face wasn't reflecting anything. To his deepest surprise, after a while, Scorpius replied, 'To be honest… Yes. A bit…'

'Oh…', Albus managed to say, and after that, he realized, how stupid he must had sounded, and how stupid he looked. He got over it, and continued the conversation, 'Do you know what house would you like to be in?'

Scorpius suddenly faded.

'You know… I don't really have a choice. I mean. It's rather certain, that I'll be in Slytherin.'

'Why?'

'All Malfoys are always in Slytherin… It's like the matter of principals.'

'Why don't you want to end up there?', asked Albus, but he might as well have asked himself the same question.

'I'm not saying I don't want to…', he said with the tone suggesting that he doesn't want to talk about it. Yet Albus kept going.

'Slytherin isn't so bad after all! It's the house of Merlin himself!'

Scorpius nodded, although he still appeared to be unconvinced.

For the following couple of minutes, Albus continued listing advantages of being a Slytherin, and suddenly with surprise, he found himself convincing a Malfoy, the member of a family, bounded to Slytherin for ages, about the virtues of this house. What more, as long as he was persuading Scorpius, he himself started to think, that maybe, being a Slytherin isn't so bad after all… He remembered what his father had told him about the Hat though – that it always takes a candidate's will under consideration. Although, for some reason, he didn't want to share that fact with Scorpius.

'Would you like to be in Slytherin?', asked Scorpius suddenly.

'Um…', started Albus, but then, the door opened, sparing him from this awkward question.

'Albus! I've been looking for you everywhere!', Rose seemed happy to see her cousin, but she narrowed her eyes, when she saw his companion. 'Um… I've just been with Dominique and her friends. Want to join us?', she asked, forcing herself to sound polite, but Albus knew, she wanted to shout: "Albus, you idiot, what are you doing with _him_? You must go with me. Now!"

'No, thanks Rose.', he answered a bit colder than he meant to. 'Maybe you'd like to join us?'

He knew that Rose's prejudice is not her fault – that's how she'd been brought up. He was hoping that if she talked with Scorpius (who he found to be a very nice, yet a bit shy) for a moment, she would see, that his name doesn't reflect his character.

From Rose's face, you could clearly see that she was fighting with her thoughts. She bit her lip. Albus knew what that was all about. She didn't want to be in the same room as Scorpius Malfoy, but then she wanted to have an eye on Albus and make sure he didn't befriend him too much. Finally, she decided.

'Okay, as a matter of fact, why not…'

And she sat down next to Albus, not paying attention to the other boy.

'Rose… meet Scorpius. Scorpius. That is Rose. My cousin.'

Rose greeted him with a grimace which, according to her, was supposed to be a smile. Scorpius grinned.

'I suppose, you must know a lot about me, just from my name, right?', he spoke to Rose, calmly 'Anyway, it's nice to meet you.'

Rose blinked quickly, shocked by his composure and straightforwardness. Albus chuckled.

'C'mon Rose!', he said, smiling to her and nudging softly.

Rose moved her cold stare from Albus to Scorpius. She stretched out her hand.

'Rose Weasley.', she said, accenting her last name 'It is… good to meet you to."

Scorpius smiled, and shook her hand.

The longer they were going, the more Scorpius acknowledged that Rose didn't like him, and Albus was an especially nice person. There was something in this boy that was intriguing him, and he was really looking forward to see how this acquaintance will develop.

After a few hours the train began to slow down and they changed into their school robes.

When they came out on Hogsmeade station, Scorpius heard a loud voice, calling 'Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!' He saw a large, bearded person. He reckoned that he must be Hagrid, the one that Albus had told him about.

He stood in front of the giant, alongside Potter. Surprise appeared on Hagrid's face, when he saw Albus' companion, but he didn't say anything.

The crossing across the lake went quickly, due to the fact that the rain, lashing down hard before, calmed down.

Scorpius soon found himself standing in the group of first-years, waiting for the Sorting Ceremony to begin.

Each consecutive person walked to the chair. Three Gryffindors, two Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were sorted so far. No Slytherin. Was he about to be the first?

'Malfoy, Scorpius!'

Whispers reverberated. When he faced the crowd, he noticed with relief that most faces expressed curiosity, not anger.

'Malfoy… Another Malfoy…', he heard a whisper in his head, when the Sorting Hat was placed on his head 'I can see a lot of ambition here and… and intelligence, yes… You are a perfect match for Slytherin, but you could find yourself perfectly in Ravenclaw as well…'

Scorpius' heart started beating faster. He didn't expect the Hat to devote even a little time for debating where to put him. And to be honest, from time to time, he thought, that it would be nice, to be in Ravenclaw…

Suddenly, he looked at Albus. He was reminded of all the things he'd said about Slytherin. He saw both of them as Slytherins, and felt a strange warmth on his heart…

'SLYTHERIN!'

The Sorting Hat, shouted it loud and so suddenly, that Scorpius jumped with surprise. So after all…

He staggered to the table situated next to the left wall of the room, giving Albus a smile when he walked pass. He was clapping along with the Slytherins.

Scorpius sat down and waited impatiently. A few hands patted him on his back with pride. At last, Albus approached the chair. Scorpius' insides writhed with nerves. And finally…

"So Scorpius is in Slytherin after all…", thought Albus, "Interesting…".

He stood there deep in thoughts about his new friend. Even when he heard his name, he didn't stop thinking. He completely forgot that he was supposed to ask the Hat for sorting into the Gryffindor. The only thing, he was capable of focusing on was the fact that Scorpius was in Slytherin… And how great it would be if they were there together. He could hear the Sorting Hat's voice in his head, but he didn't care about anything it was saying. He glanced at the Slytherin table, and saw silver eyes, watching him in suspense. Yes…

He could feel it. He knew it, before the Sorting Hat announced it to the whole Great Hall.

Albus stood up with a grin, and sat down next to happy, but still white from fright Scorpius.

He saw that at the table on the opposite side of the Hall, James looked as if he was petrified but he couldn't care less.

Soon, another shock, although not as big as Potter in Slytherin, was Rose, who got sorted into Ravenclaw, as the first from the Weasley family.

Rose, a bit frightened, a bit happy, joined the table, next to the Gryffindor one.

The Sorting Ceremony ended soon enough and after a hearty feast, Al found himself in the Slytherin first-years' dormitory. He liked it in there. He knew he wouldn't regret it.


	2. Year two

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* * *

'Scorp… What if I make an idiot of myself?'

'No, you won't, for the simple reason, that you already are one…'

Scorpius rolled his eyes and lay down on the grass, full of irritation. He liked Albus very much, but when he talked like this, he wanted to hit him on the head with a book.

'Thanks Scorp, it's good to know that you have a faith in me.', replied Albus, with a small laugh.

'Al… Seriously… Your dad is a legend. Has only James inherited all of your parents' self-confidence?'

Albus chuckled.

'Looks like it… But that's the point Scorp! My dad is a legend, my brother is a star, so what if it turns out that I'm useless?'

'Merlin's beard, Al…', Scorpius lifted himself on his elbows, and pierced the dark-haired boy with a glance of his silvery eyes, 'You got into the team, right? You were the one they chose, right? You really think that they would have chosen you if you were useless?'

'Um… No…'

'Exactly.', Scorpius' put on a more gentle expression, 'It will be okay Al, you'll see.'

He smiled at his friend. Albus looked at him with gratitude in his eyes, and smiled back. After a while they heard someone calling them: 'Al! Scorp!'

Rose was heading towards the tree which they were sitting under, walking very fast. Scorpius smiled, remembering how last year, she wouldn't had even spoken to him. Luckily, thanks to Albus constantly trying to get her to be around Scorpius as much as possible, she had finally given up and had started looking at him much more favourably.

'What's up Rosie?', asked Albus

'I've got a letter from mum! She says, that everyone's going to come here tomorrow, isn't it wonderful?'

Rose was in raptures, whereas Albus suddenly got paler than Scorpius has ever seen.

'What… What do you mean everyone?', he managed to say.

'Our parents! Hugo and Lily are staying with grandma Molly, because mum reckons that they should not see Hogwarts for the first time now, but wait until next year'

If Albus had been pale before, Scorpius didn't know the shade of white, which could describe the colour of his face at that moment. His eyes opened widely and he was silent with fear.

'Al? Aal!', Rose waved her hand in front of his eyes, 'Al, are you alright?'

Al looked as if he'd been petrified, and couldn't say a word.

'I think it's just because of the joy he felt when thinking about seeing his parents again…', said Scorpius with a smile, 'Al?', he shook him a little.

'I resign.', mumbled Al, 'I resign, dad cannot see this, and especially… _Mum_…

Rose's face flashed an expression of understanding. In a split second she became serious.

'Albus Severus Potter', she said firmly, 'You must stop saying such things right now. You will not resign out of anything and tomorrow your parents and James will see what you can do'

His brother's name, worked on Albus as a catalyst. His nerves receded, and a sudden flash appeared in his eyes.

'Yeah…', he stood up suddenly, 'Yes, you're right. They will. Thanks Rose, Scorp… Uh, what would I do without you?…'

'Oh stop it, or I'll burst into tears…', teased Rose, but she tousled his dark hair with tenderness.

Scorpius just smiled, shyly. On the way back to the castle, he was strangely worried. He wanted Albus to win very much, though he had never really cared about the Quidditch at all. He couldn't resist a feeling, that the score of tomorrows match, would have a strong impact on something.

* * *

On the day of the match, Albus was stressed more that he'd been in his entire life, although no one would know. He barely remembered what had happened until they came out on the pitch. The Captains of Slytherin and Hufflepuff shook hands.

The sound of a whistle rang out.

The moment Albus soared from the ground, was the moment when all of his fears disappeared. He made a few laps over the pitch, and then flew a bit higher than the rest of the team, and hung in the air. The Quaffle went up. The game was on.

For a long time Albus was circulating above the rest of the players, in search of a golden ball.

Soon, Slytherins scored.

The Snitch was still out of sight. Al was also trying to see a pale blonde head in the crowd below. When he thought he saw it, he calmed down a bit more.

He reminded himself about the parents. He hadn't known what they had been saying to him before the match, all he had felt, was patting on the back.

The sound of another score pierced the air. Hufflepuffs equalised.

Suddenly Al saw a small, golden fleck near Hufflepuff's left loop. He started to fly towards it, but a Bludger swished in front of his eyes. When he looked again, the ball was gone.

Angry, he started to circle around the pitch once again.

Hufflepuffs scored twenty more points.

After a while, Slytherins scored.

And then, the Snitch appeared for the second time. Very low, near the earth. Albus didn't take much time to think. He dived, flying fast like a sparrowhawk after its pray . The only thing he was thinking about was to make it as quickly as possible. He didn't know where the other seeker was, his thoughts were wrapped around this little ball, fluttering it's wings, waiting for him to catch it.

He felt his palm, clasping around the Snitch. He pulled his broom up.

And suddenly, without a warning, he felt a blinding and paralysing pain in his back.

He heard the referee's whistle and darkness surrounded him.

* * *

The first thing he noticed, when he woke up, was Scorpius' worried face. He felt better at the sight of his friend. Then, he saw his parents and James, and his aunt and uncle with Rose. Everyone seemed to be a bit scared, but they cheered up when they saw his eyes open.

'What…?'

'Bludger', said Scorp weakly, 'Smith had beaten it towards you, just before you caught the Snitch…'

Albus lay down on the pillows, embarrassed. To his greatest surprise, he heard his father's laugh.

'Son, don't you remember that on my first match, I almost swallowed the Snitch? _Swallowed_…'

Al looked at him with a shadow of a smile.

'Besides, that diving you performed… Amazing feat.', mum cut in, 'You might be the youngest player ever who has succeeded to dive so fast, and so low, and straighten up his broom after. Bravo.'

'Yes!', said Rose suddenly, 'That's what Mrs Hooch said. The youngest player… Everyone is very impressed Al!'

Albus relaxed a little.

'Yeah, all perfect little bro, but watch out the Bludgers next time, because I don't want to win easily…', said James

'I categorically state that we'll win even if get hit by the Bludger in the first minute of the match…', answered Al with a smile.

Corners of James' mouth raised a little, 'Challenge accepted'.

After a while Mrs Pomfrey, chased them away. She stayed firm, even when dad tried to butter her up, by thanking her for taking care of him, when he'd been at Hogwarts.

Albus lay down on his pillows, needing to sleep. He couldn't wait to talk about the match with Scorpius.


	3. Year three

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'Hufflepuff!'

Albus watched with his heart beating fast, as his terrified and clearly unsatisfied cousin Hugo walked lazily towards the Hufflepuff's table. Although he, personally considered Hufflepuff as a nice house, he knew that his cousin had been counting on being sorted into Gryffindor. On the other hand, Al had been counting on it to, but he had ended up in Slytherin and he felt more than happy about it. He was sure, Hugo would find himself in Hufflepuff as quickly, with a small pep talk first, though. His cousin sat down next to Louis with a shiny Prefect's badge, who patted his back with pride. Dominique and James, on the other hand, were looking at him from Gryffindor's table with disappointment.

Seeing James' expression, Albus grinned. After Lilly took a seat next to Rose at the Ravenclaw table, James was surely counting that at least Hugo will join him in Gryffindor. Albus was very pleased about his sister's sorting. It was partly, because his selfish part really didn't want him to be the only non-Gryffindor person in the family, mainly to cause James to keep quiet and stop praising 'Lion's house' at every occasion.

'Disappointed?', asked Scorpius suddenly

'Why?'

'Because Hugo is in Hufflepuff'

Al laughed.

'Why would I be? It's a good house. I'm sure he'll fit in easily and he has Louis.'

Scorp side-smiled.

'What?', asked Al.

'No, nothing…', Scorp smiled wider

'Scorpius.', Al narrowed his eyes.

'Are you persuading me or yourself?', he said with a playful flash in his eyes.

'You! Although, you have a point, I'm persuading myself as well… It's just, I know how much he's been counting on Gryffindor, and I'm a bit worried…'

'What about Lily?'

'What about her?'

'Didn't he want to be in Gryffindor?'

Albus laughed again. He looked at his overjoyed sister.

'Since Rose has been sorted into Ravenclaw, Lily's been talking about nothing else…'

* * *

'C'mon Scorp!'

'No.'

'C'mon, don't make me beg you…'

'No.'

'Scoooorp…'

'No Albus, you won't talk me into this. Besides. I'd prefer to watch you…', he said and instantly flushed. Albus just smiled and shrugged.

'Oh, whatever… But you have to try it one day.', he said with a wink.

'No I don't.', answered Scorp, crossing his arms over his chest.

'We'll see. What about you, Rose? Perhaps, you're more willing?'

'Don't even start with me Al…'

'Uh… You're both such a bores… See you later then!'

He walked away, towards the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team. It was a warm day, so Rose and Scorpius had gone out with books to watch their practice. But then Al suddenly had decided to try to persuade them into flying on a broom.

'We're lucky, that they're waiting for him, because otherwise he would never back down…', mumbled Rose, opening her History of Magic course book.

'You've really never tried?', asked Scorp

'Flying? Nope. I think I've inherited it from my mum, I deeply hate broomsticks… What about you? Your father used to play…', she asked, and although Scorp knew that she'd rather pretend that he didn't have a father, she showed little sign of being concerned by it.

'You see… Father played presumably only to have another opportunity to try to be better than everyone else. He was never especially passionate, like Al, James or their dad.

Rose nodded, and then, hesitantly, she said: 'You know… I… I think, that if your father had had a choice, he would have chosen a completely different path…'

Scorpius opened his eyes with surprise. Has Rose really just said something almost positive about Draco Malfoy?

'What…?'

'See… My point is, that he could have been a completely different person. But he didn't have a choice. Dad always used to say, how horrible your father was at school, and I believed him blindly, never really giving it a second thought. But now, I look at you… You've had a choice, and you are pretty bearable', she winked, 'And you inherited a lot from your father, for sure. So, that's why I've finally understood.', she finished with a shy smile.

'Wow… When did you get so smart?'

She hit him delicately on the shoulder and they both burst out laughing.

'I have always been smart, but never appreciated.', she said with fake indignation.

'Oh Rosie, enough with this pity party!', they suddenly heard Lily's voice.

'I'm not throwing a pity party… What's up Lils?'

'This friend of yours… Mary is looking for you… I think she's having a hard time with a homework for Slughorn…'

Rose rolled her eyes, and stood up with reluctance.

'Uh… Well, my friends, duty calls. See you later!'

'Don't you want to play?', asked Lily, when Rose walked away. He looked at her, surprised by the ease with which she was talking to him. She hadn't known him for long, after all, and she was younger. He couldn't recall himself talking to somebody with such ease, when he was her age. Well… Maybe except Albus. With Al things always seemed to be a bit different… 'Um, Scorp?'

'What? Oh, yes, sorry. No, not really my sort of interest. You?'

'Oh yes! I think it's a Potter thing – Quidditch. I would love to play for the team next year.'

'As a Seeker?'

'No… I think Al and dad sort of ran out of talent for seekers in the family.', she winked with a smile, 'And I don't want to be a Keeper like James. I thing I'll follow my mum's footsteps and become a Chaser.'

Her eyes were eagerly observing emerald spots, whizzing in the air.

'Well, good luck then.'

'Thanks.', she grinned, 'You're much more different than a typical Malfoy is supposed to be.'

Scorpius chuckled.

'Yeah… I hear that all the time lately. Is that a compliment?'

She shrugged and smiled.

'I suppose.'

Scorpius noticed that her eyes, although hidden behind rectangular glasses, had the same shade of deep green as Albus'. "Why do I think about Albus' eyes?", he thought to himself. He shook his head, banished the vision of Al from his head.

'Thank you then', he winked to her

'Are you waiting for Al to finish? I think I will be heading back, because I'm meeting Hugo in a library. I completely don't get Softening Charm! I know, I know, I'm supposed to know everything,', she added, seeing his surprise, 'But trust me, Ravenclaws also are human beings!', she finished, grinning.

Scorpius laughed.

'I know that! Don't worry, I don't think in stereotypes.'

'Good.', she winked, 'See you later then.'

Scorpius watched her walking away, her chestnut hair waving in the wind, behind her. He smiled to himself, and got back to the 'Witch hunting' chapter.


	4. Year four

On their Friday lessons of Potions, Slytherins and Gryffindors were usually especially absent-minded, since it was the last lesson of the week.

On this particular day, the atmosphere was even more relaxed, because of the upcoming Quidditch final match – Slytherin vs. Ravenclaw. Professor Slughorn, however, looked as if he was not aware of the fact that no one was focused on their work, since he had given them an exceptionally hard potion to brew.

'…so I'm telling James, that he should stick the Bludger… you know where, and he bursts out laughing, and says, that if I even _see _the Snitch tomorrow, he will do it. I'd love to see that. He is very bitter, because of their loss against us, you know, but what can I do, we were simply better, that's it. It's funny, because…'

'Um… Al?'

'…and know he's the one, who's left out in the cold, and we have advantage…'

'Al!'

'…but he asked for it. I'm not sorry, since…'

'Albus!'

'…he's an idiot, and that's it. He can't see the Quaffle, even when it's in front of his eyes, so he loses points.', he stopped the volley of words at last, 'Did you say something?'

'You're adding a completely coincidental ingredient! You'll create artificial intelligence in a minute…'

'Oh, how wonderful would that be, I could give some to James…'

'Al!'

'Okay, I'm sorry. But tomorrow's the final! You have no idea how excited I am.'

'Trust me, I can imagine.'

Scorp grinned, and Al smiled back. Looking at Scorpius, he suddenly became serious, because he wondered, why Scorpius even wanted to be friends with him. He would understand, if Scorp befriended him after his first match, like a lot of people did, but he has been his friend since the beginning, before Al was popular, and liked. They were complete opposites, and today's lesson was a perfect example – Al talkative, absent-minded, self-confident, Scorp usually reticent, focused on his work, secretive. Actually (Al smiled to himself again), silent and shy with other people Scorp, could sometimes become very talkative and so confident with Albus…

'What?', asked his friend, seeing Al's sudden smile

'Nothing Scorp, you're just adorable.', he answered and winked. Scorpius immediately flushed, what brought Albus' attention on what he said and how it must have sounded. He instantly called himself every insult he knew. He didn't have much time to punish himself for this particularly stupid sentence, because in a split second, something made him freeze.

The potion, brewing so carelessly by Al, blew up, but because of a unique selection of ingredients, it didn't splash around, but flew out in the air, formed a ball, and fell down. Right on Scorpius.

* * *

When (to his misfortune) Scorpius woke up, he wanted to scream. He had never felt such an incredible pain. He thought, that he'd been skinned, or burned. He couldn't scream though. He didn't have power to produce a single sound from his throat. Opening his eyes turned out to be horribly difficult as well. He managed to raise his eyelids just a little. It was enough to see Albus, sitting next to the bed, his face buried in his hands. He tried again, to let out some sound.

'A… Al…"

It was enough. His friend looked at him rapidly. His eyes were red and puffy.

'Scorp… Merlin's… I thought…', he hesitated, 'But it's okay now. I'm so sorry, Scorp…'

He wanted so much to tell him that everything was fine, and that he shouldn't worry… But the only thing he managed to let out was a quiet moan. And then, everything blurred again.

* * *

'If Snape was still teaching, it wouldn't have happened.'

'Mister Malfoy…'

'What?! Slughorn may had been good a long time ago, but, honestly, he's clearly grown old. How could he allow students to be so absent-minded? On a lesson with such a difficult subject? The Board of Governors will certainly find out about it. Ah, if my father heard about this…

'Draco…'

'Right, sweetheart, he probably wouldn't give a damn…'

There was an awkward silence after this. Albus couldn't help but overhearing this conversation, because to be honest, it was very hard not to hear it. When he'd found out about his son's accident, Draco Malfoy came to school the next morning and started an argument right away. He was just talking (well, it was hard to call it a talk…) to Madam Pomfrey in her office. From what else Albus heard, it looked like Mr Malfoy was about to meet headmistress McGonagall in a moment. He supposedly hadn't talked to Slughorn yet, but from the tone of his voice, Albus deduced that it would probably be better if he didn't.

Of course, he had been waiting until Mr Malfoy would destroy him – it was he, after all, who had been responsible for whole situation. He felt a squeeze in his stomach when he thought about it. Not about the destroying part… He looked at Scorpius. He seemed to be so calm. All his body, including his head, was covered with bandages. Albus preferred not to think about the agonies his friend must had been going through. He had been sleeping peacefully for the whole day, not counting the one brief moment when he had woke up. But even that short time had given Albus the hope, he had so desperately needed. Before that he hadn't even known, whether his friend would wake up… According to Madam Pomfrey, everything would be okay, but at the very beginning, it might had been that Scorpius would be transferred to St Mungo's. Albus didn't know who, or what to thank that it had not happened.

He reminded himself about Scorpius' father. He didn't feel fear. He deserved every punishment. He had already been given a ton of detentions and his performance in the Quidditch match was under consideration. But none of it mattered. He doubted that he would not play, since the match was about to happen, and there was no other Seeker who could replace him. But honestly, he'd rather stay here with Scorp, than play.

He'd never felt so terrible before. He hadn't slept for the whole night. He hadn't felt like it and even if he had, he couldn't.

The screen opened, but instead of seeing Mr Malfoy's angry face, he saw bushy red hair, right next to a head of bushy chestnut.

Rose's eyes were red and puffed from crying, Lily however, despite an unusual for her serious face, didn't express any signs of grief. Albus knew why. Their mother was exactly the same.

'Oh… Al…', Rose approached and sat next to Albus, hugging him.

'It'll be fine Rosie…', he said, trying to calm her down, but failing miserably, his voice breaking down. He stroked his friend's head, hugging her tighter.

'He will get out of it.', said Lily quietly, 'Al… We have a match to play…'

'I don't want to…'

'Al.', she stretched out her hand, 'Come and play. And win it. For him.', she looked at Scorpius with sad eyes.

Al stood up. "I will come back here.", he thought, "I will come back here, with a Quidditch cup for you."

'Are you…?', he wanted to ask Rose, but she answered before he finished: 'Yes, I'll stay with him. You go and…', her voice broke down, and she couldn't say anything else.

Al gave a last glance at his friend, and followed his sister out of the screen.

* * *

Someone was shouting. Someone was sobbing quietly. "Is that Albus? No, please, don't let this be Albus crying… Not because of me…", Scorpius thought. He managed to raise his eyelids a little. Red hair… Rose. He felt relief and a small amount of disappointment at the same time. Rose was as much of a friend to him, as Albus was, after all. Yet Rose wasn't Al. Al meant something more…

Was it possible?... He combined all facts. He'd never been interested with any girl. He was only fifteen of course, but he'd heard his friends exchanging opinions about girls. He'd never been bothered. He hadn't had anything to say. The person with whom he'd been feeling the best was Al. He could gossip with Rose on every subject – from jewellery, to cosmetics, and to new fashion trends. Talking to Rose hadn't given him that feeling of fulfilment and inner calm, which a conversation with Albus had.

Was it really possible, that…?

'Rose?', he heard a voice that sounded familiar.

'Mister Potter!', said Rose in a small hoarse voice.

'I've just got here… Where's Albus?'

'He's playing a match…'

Scorpius felt a selfish feeling of regret. So Albus had chosen the match… He shouldn't be surprised, but delicately and irrationally it made him sad. Mr Potter thought probably about something similar.

'What do you mean "He's playing a match"?', he asked, sharply.

'No, no… He didn't have a choice… They hadn't found a replacement.', Scorpius cheered up a little, ' Anyway, he didn't really want to go. He preferred to sit here. Lily talked him into it. He went to win this game… well, for Scorp.'

"What?", Scorpius asked in his thoughts. He felt as if some huge weight was sliding down his stomach. "Albus…". If he could open his eyes with surprise, he certainly would. And yet, Rose was going on, and he was freezing more and more.

'He was sitting here the whole night… And the whole day. Actually, I don't think he's ever left this room, since Scorp had been here.'

He could feel his heart beating faster. He wanted to find Albus, right now, and tell him to stop bothering about him and that he has to sleep! However, he'd never felt such happiness before. He was counting on Albus to give him a little attention, but this… He certainly hadn't seen that coming. He didn't know if his friend was doing it out of concern, or guilt. But it didn't matter. He was there.

'Potter.'

"What the…? No, please… Not…"

'Malfoy.'

'Would you like to explain to me, why is your son trying to kill mine?'

'Perhaps, I'll go…', whispered Rose, and when none of them denied, he pictured Mr Potter nodding, and his friend, slipping out through the screen.

"Oh no… They're going to kill each other…"

'No one is trying to kill anybody, Draco.'

'Oh, so we're on the first name terms now?'

'Don't you think it's a bit stupid…'

'What? Yes, I think it's stupid that your son is trying to kill mine!'

'Nobody is trying to kill anyone, you stubborn ferret…'

'Excuse me?'

Scorp could felt, that Mr Potter understood that he'd made a mistake.

'I'm sorry, I…'

And then, something which made Scorpius want to sit up and see for his own eyes, because he couldn't believe what he heard happened.

Has his father just… _laughed_?

Mister Potter probably also didn't get what happened.

'Um…?'

'Yes… That was a funny experience. Embarrassing, obviously, but funny.'

Scorpius could see Mr Potter's eyes, opened widely with deepest surprise.

'Um…'

'Don't look at me like that Potter! I've experienced a bit since that time. Some events make us look at other things in our life in a completely different way than we used to.', his father's voice was serious and official, not disdainful, 'So… Why is your son…?'

'He's not trying to kill him! Merlin's beard, Malfoy… It was an accident.'

'Oh, so I am Malfoy again?', Scorpius really couldn't believe it. Now his father has just teased Mr Potter. 'Anyway.', he said, before Mr Potter could answer, 'Another thing worth remembering. There's no such thing as an accident. Everything has it's reason.'

'Then you're going to have to look for it, because as I said, it was a common accident…'

'We'll see about it.'

Scorpius still couldn't believe that his father and Mr Potter were able to have a normal conversation. But then, his father had said something really important… Something that had been in Scorpius' mind as well. What if this accident was the beginning of something bigger? Genuinely speaking, he felt exactly like it was.

After a while, he drifted away again…

* * *

"Bloody Snitch… Bloody match…"

Albus was drifting in the air, looking for this damn, little ball. He didn't know if it was him, or if Ravenclaws were letting them win. It was very unlikely that Lily had missed two times in a row, and had dropped the ball once. He didn't hold it against her, he understood her, but he didn't want it. He hated it.

Slytherins were winning sixty to thirty.

Ravenclaws' Seeker seemed to be focused on the game and determined to catch the Snitch, so at least that was cheering Albus up a bit. He wanted to win on his own. For Scorpius.

Slytherin scored again.

And after a good couple of minutes he noticed Ravenclaws' Seeker, flying fast towards the golden ball. His heart skipped a beat, but he started flying in the same direction immediately. He was rushing up on his broom, impatiently.

After a while he levelled with his opponent.

The ball was on the reach of his hand…

* * *

'Is he still asleep?'

'Yeah…'

'It's been four days!'

'I know… He woke up a couple of times, but probably didn't understood much. Madam Pomfrey, however, says that now it should be better, so the more he sleeps, the better for him'

"Four days? It's already been four days?", thought Scorpius. He tried to open his eyes. To his surprise, he succeeded. He felt much better, in fact. His skin wasn't burning him anymore, although it still hurt and itched.

He felt warmth in his heart, when he saw Albus.

"Stupid… Stop reacting like this because of him…", he rebuked himself.

Albus was in the company of Rose, who was first to notice, that he had awoken.

'Al!... Scorp…!', she gasped, gripping Albus' shirt.

Albus raised his head, rapidly. Seeing his face, Scorpius was frightened nearly to death. Al had huge bags under his eyes, which looked, as if they'd sunken into the skull. His skin was sallow, and face looked tired. Yet he grinned widely, when he noticed that his friend was awake.

'Scorp! Merlin's beard… How do you feel?'

He wanted to answer, but all he could let out was a hoarsely screech. He cleared his throat and tried again.

'Much better, actually, thanks…'

'I don't know if you've heard…', Albus started shyly, 'We won!', he pointed to the cup, standing on the bed table, 'And… And that's for you Scorp. I'm so sorry…'

'Al… You don't have to… Really…'

'Al was sitting here all the time, Scorp. He wouldn't have gone to that match, if not to win for you.'

Was it him, or did Al blush a little? No, it was probably just his injured imagination…

'Rose was here as well!'

'But not so often. We were worried Scorp… You have no idea how hard it was. It was probably the first Madam Pomfrey's case, that was so serious.

'In fact… In fact, what actually happened?'

Scorp had just realized that he didn't remember the way, he'd been injured.

'I…', started Al, but his voice broke down.

'Al's potion exploded during the class.', helped Rose, 'Due to his outstanding talent, he created amazingly awful snot, which flew in the air, and then fell down on you, surrounding all your body with its tentacles. Firstly, it was extremely hot and secondly, it contained a lot of ingredients of a common poison, so… It sort of…'

'Burned my skin.'

'It was the scariest thing I'd ever seen…', whispered Al, 'You don't even know… Scorp, I could literally see your bones in some places…'

'Well, I'm so skinny, that you should be used to it by now…'

All of them laughed. Scorpius suddenly realized, how beautiful Albus' laugh sounded.

"Oh, c'mon, get a grip…", he rebuked himself again.

'I will go and let your fathers know that you awoke. They are sitting in the corridor right now, talking. Would you believe that? I mean… Actually… _talking_.

Scorp burst out laughing.

'Yeah, sounds unbelievable…'

Rose smiled to him on her way out. Scorp turned his glance to Al. For his sad eyes and expression, he'd figured out, what he'd been meaning to say, before he opened his mouth.

'Don't do that to yourself Al. Really. Everything's okay. I don't blame you. It was an accident.

'But if I had listened to you… If I hadn't been so stupid…'

'Al. Please.', he gave him a comforting smile.

And then, Al did something, what was perhaps an ordinary thing for him, but what made Scorpius' heart skip a beat – he delicately held his hand.

'I am seriously very sorry Scorp… And you really have no idea what a relief it is, that you are finally awake, and that you feel better…'

'Trust me, I can imagine…', he said, winking.

Albus was looking at him so intensively, that Scorpius felt his pulse speeding up. His touch, even through the bandages, was giving him shivers, and yet, he was hot. His skin was still hurting him, but it didn't matter. Al was here. All was well.

And then it hit him.

Maybe he wasn't very experienced with the feelings, maybe he was too young for it. But if anyone asked him about what love is , he would definitely describe what it as the way felt at this particular moment.


	5. Year five

_Heeeey, I'm so, so sorry it took me so long… But I just had so much stuff going on, it was hard to find the time for anything…_  
_Thank you so much for the reviews, follows and favourites. I hope I will not let you down this time ;)_  
_Enjoy!_

* * *

Scorpius and Rose were sitting in the library, doing Transfiguration homework. Albus was going to join them right after his Quidditch match. Scorpius wanted him to be here already. Despite his honest attempts to focus on his work, he was glancing nervously towards the entrance, waiting for him to come.

'…but yet, there are five exceptions from Gamp's elementary Transfiguration law….', mumbled Rose, scraping on the parchment, 'Scorp?', she looked at him.

'Huuuuh?', he said, tearing his glance away from the door.

'I thought we were supposed to do this together. You haven't written a single word.'

'Uh, I'm sorry Rose… I'm just a bit distracted.', he winked.

She made a weird expression, but she didn't have a chance to say anything, because Al had just entered the room, and dropped into the chair next to Scorpius, who jumped, overturning a pile of books.

"Idiot…", Scorpius thought to himself.

'A tough practice?', he asked managing to stay calm when a wave of warmth filled his heart at a sight of his friend.

'You have no idea how… Transfiguration?', he asked, pointing on Rose's notes. She nodded.

After a while, Scorpius noticed two girls, approaching them. They were eagerly whispering to each other. When they reached the table where the trio were sitting, one of them spoke giggling: 'Hey there', she greeted everyone, 'I'm Agnes, and that's Katie', then she turned only to the boys: 'Albus, Scorpius… We were wondering… Maybe you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with us this weekend?'

Scorpius felt a cramp in his stomach. He and Al on a double date? A double date with _girls_?...

'We're already going there with Rose, right Rose?', he said quickly, without thinking.

Rose widen her eyes. She'd already opened her mouth, to probably say that she didn't mind, when Al suddenly spoke: 'Oh, of course. Sorry girls, maybe next time.'

Scorpius looked at him with a mixed feelings of relief and surprise. When Agnes and her friend were walking away, clearly disappointed, Rose hissed: 'Seriously… I would survive. How many more offers like this are you going to reject Albus?'

Al shrugged, 'I'm too busy, I don't have time for girls…'

'And you Scorp? Really, one would've thought that your only love is a book…'

'But… I really prefer reading than going on dates. Besides, I really want to go there with you.', he finished, looking at Rose, but in his mind, telling these words to a dark-haired boy, sitting next to him.

Rose made the same weird expression, and said nothing else.

* * *

'Albus!'

'Sorry Rose, I won't make it…'

'We were supposed to go together.'

'I know, but we've been training very hard lately, because we don't want to give the Cup away…'

'But we were supposed to go together.'

'I know Rose! You've already said that. I'm sorry, I can't.'

His cousin snorted, clearly irritated and walked away, throwing her hair.

As a matter of fact, Albus didn't have a practise. He was just so tired, that he wanted to finally lie down and rest.

He walked into the Common Room, and saw Scorpius, reading a book in his favourite armchair.

'Hey, you.'

Scorp jumped rapidly and dropped his book. He was dropping and overturning a lot of things at the sight of Albus lately.

'Hey… Something happened?'

'Listen… I can't go to Hogsmeade with you…'

Albus saw a shadow of fear on Scorpius' face.

'Why?'

'Because Quidditch… You see… We're training harder, because of the Cup…'

Scorp relaxed.

'Oh, I understand. You have a practise?'

Not knowing why, Albus thought that he didn't have to lie to Scorpius.

'Genuinely speaking, no. I would just like to rest. I don't have the energy for anything lately…'

'Yeah, I'm not surprised Al! You really should slow down a bit… Quidditch is not everything, you know. You have O.W.L.s this year as well!'

Albus smiled at the sight of his friend's worried face. Scorpius could always understand him. And he was constantly speaking about studying…

'Yeah… Thanks for understanding, Scorp. Oh, and don't tell Rose. She thinks I have practice…'

'Was she mad?'

'You don't wanna know…'

Scorp chuckled.

'Okay Al, I won't say anything.'

'See you tonight then. And have fun in Hogsmeade!'

* * *

"I won't, without you…", Scorpius thought and gazed sadly at Al disappearing into the dormitory. He knew his friend needed rest so he didn't hold it against him, yet he couldn't get rid of regret burning a hole in his stomach.

When the time to meet Rose came, he walked lazily to the Great Hall, where he was supposed to see her.

At the sight of her irritated face, remembering Al's words he chuckled.

'What are you chuckling for?'

'No nothing, it's… It's just I'm happy to see you.', he winked, smiling.

Once again, during the last few days Rose made that weird expression that he had never seen before. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but closed it again, shaking her head.

'Great… Can we go now?'

'Yeah, well, finally there will be just the two of us..'

'Finally?', she asked with a sound of panic in her voice.

'Yep, as in we don't have to wait for anyone else.'

'Oh… I thought… Never mind. Let's go.'

He looked at her surprised, but didn't get into the details.

An unusual cold reigned outside. It was an early spring, but the remains of a winter was still perceptible.

Scorpius noticed that Rose was shivering with cold.

'Do you want my jacket?', he suggested

'No!', she answered quickly, 'Um… I mean… No, thank you Scorp.'

'Come closer, you'll be warmer that way.', he said and pulled her closer to him, placing her arm under his.

It seemed like Rose was about to pull away at first, but she changed her mind due to the temperature.

'T-thanks.', she said, her teeth chattering.

When they entered Hogsmeade, Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop was the first place that Scorpius noticed that seemed to be warm and cosy. Personally, he preferred cold to warmth, but since Rose was clearly freezing, he decided that it would be better if they went in.

'Maybe we could go in there?', he suggested, pointing at the Tea Shop.

'In there?', she squeaked.

'You're freezing. I need to warm you up.'

She jumped rapidly.

'I'd rather go to the Three Broomsticks.'

'But it's a bit further, are you sure…?'

'Yes!'

Scorpius didn't know what had caused her nervousness and he was wondering whether he had done something wrong. When they reached The Three Broomsticks, he used all of the grace, he'd inherited from his father, bowed delicately and said: 'Ladies first.', with a completely unnatural for him, nonchalant smile. He was hoping that, if he had done something wrong, now he'd redeemed himself. It turned out that he got the completely opposite effect. Rose walked pass him quickly giving him an insincere smile. She found a table and sat next to it, locking her gaze on an indeterminate spot on the wall. Scorp sat in front of her.

'Um, Rose? Is everything okay? Have I done something wrong?'

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

'Scorp.', she said, releasing the air and looking at him, 'We need to talk. It is hard for me because… Because you really are a close friend, but... Scorp, you're only a friend. I've noticed that in the last couple of days we have been closer, because of Al's practises, but still… I'm sorry.'

"Merlin's beard…", thought Scorp. He analysed everything he'd done in her present, for the past few days, and suddenly all her weird expressions made sense.

He wanted to burst out laughing, but he made the most serious face he could.

'Rose…', he said lowering his voice, and managing to keep a solemn tone, 'I'm gay…'

He regretted not being able to take a picture of her face, because it would easily make him happy on sad days.

Rose closed her eyes and clapped a hand over her forehead.

'Of course… Idiot…', she looked back at him, 'I'm sorry… But… How? I mean… How long have you known?'

'I think for a year now. Although I'd never been interested in girls before as well. Besides, weren't you just a bit suspicious, when I talked to you about the new hair colour of a Hilary, from the sixth grade?'

'And Clare's dress… And everything… Merlin's beard, Scorp! Am I blind?'

Scorpius laughed.

'No, you've just never been thinking about it.'

'Wow…', her face was in state of a huge shock, 'Don't think I'm against it, or something, it's just… Wow…'

'It's okay, I understand.'

'Are you…? Are you going to…?'

'Come out? I don't need to yet, so no. I don't have to walk around the corridors with a sticker "Watch out, I'm gay.", glued to my forehead.', he grinned.

Rose laughed.

'Wow… ', she said again, 'And what about your parents?'

'I have more hair cosmetics than my mum, so I'm pretty sure they have a hunch.'

She straightened up suddenly.

'Wait… What about Al?'

Scorpius' heart skipped a beat.

'What about him?', he asked, forcing himself to stay calm.

'Does he know?'

Phew…

'No.'

'Don't you think he should?'

'Why would he? He might feel uncomfortable… and all…', he said, trying to sound indifferent.

The truth was, Albus _mustn't_ know, because then he would look at Scorpius' behaviour around him from a completely different angle, which would probably make Al aware of Scorp's feelings.

'Whatever. It's your decision. But… Wow…'

'I didn't know that you can be switched off in this simple way. If I knew, I would have done it ages ago.', he smiled.

'Well, well, what a cheek! I know your secret now so you better be careful. If I don't like your behaviour, I could accidentally let on…'

'You wouldn't.'

'Try me.', she teased.

'Rose Weasley, you are a true treasure… But… Rosie. You really thought I would have acted this confidently if I'd had feelings for you? Don't you already know, that I'm not the most confident person in the world?', he grinned.

Rose laughed.

'Yeah, that was the biggest mystery for me! Merlin's beard, Scorp… ', she chuckled again, 'I'm really not good with this… Lily can see right through such things!'

Scorp paled.

'What?... Do you think she…?'

'No, I don't think she knows. And even if she does, she kept it to herself. So there's no need to worry, is there?'

It wasn't exactly that which was the reason of Scorpius' worries.

Lily Potter, guessing what he felt towards her brother? No, that was certainly the last thing he wanted…

* * *

Albus had barely lain down when he heard knocking on the window. When he gazed at it, he saw Fred, his Barn owl.

He jumped to his feet immediately, because Fred had most probably brought a letter with Al's dad's answer. He opened the window and his owl stretched out its leg with the piece of paper.

'Thanks, mate.', said Albus, untying the letter.

Fred hooted, as if he was saying 'You're welcome.', and pinched his finger fondly with his beak for goodbye, and flew back to the owlery.

Al opened the envelope quickly.

"_Al – of course Scorpius can come to us during holidays! Actually, both me and mum are surprised you hadn't asked before..._

_Lots of love!_

_Dad_

_P.S. _

_Keep your eye on James. I'm honestly tired of all these school owls. To enchant dungbombs to follow Filch everywhere… Really… Uncle George would be proud…. "_

Albus smiled. He'd rather not tell dad, that he helped his brother in that particular joke. Both of them had always admired the Weasley twins and listened to stories about them with bated breath.

He looked at the first sentence again.

The reason why he'd never asked Scorpius to their house before, was that Scorp had always got so star struck by Al's dad, he couldn't say a word. Al thought that it should be another way around. Every time he saw Mr. Malfoy, he was feeling a very strong urge to go into another direction. He was too afraid, he would turn him into a cockroach.

He got brave enough to officially meet him not sooner than after the third year, when Scorp threatened that he would transfigure Al's broom into a toothpick and dig it up in the Forbidden Forest. Albus laughed, at first because he couldn't picture Scorpius walking into the Forbidden Forest, but when he saw his grave-serious face, it frightened him much more than the thought of meeting his father, so he had given up at last and let Scorpius drag him to Mr. Malfoy at the platform 9 and ¾.

'It wasn't so bad now, was it?', asked Scorpius that day.

'Well, I'm still a human…'

'Albus!'

Al chuckled.

'No, it wasn't that bad Scorp. But promise me that I won't have to do that again anytime soon…'

The next time he saw Mr. Malfoy was the time of the unfortunate event during their fourth year. He shivered at the memory only. Mr Malfoy, however, showed a unthinkable calmness and approached the subject very peacefully (after asking Al five times, why did he try to kill his son, of course). Despite the fact that Mr Malfoy turned out to be a human being after all and had a soul, Al wasn't in rush to meet him again. He knew that when Scorp finds out about Al's plans for the summer, he would probably pay him back, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that his parents agreed, and that Scorp would be coming for summer. Whether he liked it or not.

He smiled when he pictured his friends facial expression, when he would tell him the news.

Scorpius always blushed so adorably on the sight of Al's dad…

"Damn it Al, that's several times you've used the word 'adorable' while thinking of Scorpius. Get a grip, he's not some small kitten…"

He was suddenly haunted by a wild vision of Scorp with whiskers and kitty ears, licking his paw.

His laugh echoed in the empty dormitory.

Deep in thought, he put the letter on the sleeping table, and laid down on the bed feeling he was drifting away.

It seemed like only five minutes had passed, when he heard Scorp entering the room. He raised his head.

'Al! I'm so sorry! I didn't want to wake you!'

Albus smiled at the sight of his frightened face.

'It's okay… I haven't been asleep for five minutes already…', he lied. Scorp released his breath with relief. 'Actually, I have a surprise for you.'

'Oh Al… Are you going to show me another Feint of a Seeker whose name I won't remember anyway?'

'No, silly!', he said, sitting on the edge of the bed, and reaching out for the letter, 'Look!'

Scorp approached hesitantly. Albus encouraged him with a hand gesture to sit next to him.

'What…?'

'Ta daaah!', he said, showing him the piece of paper.

He saw Scorpius' eyes moving from the one end of the letter to another. Al noticed that his friend had an incredibly long eyelashes. Scorpius' lips parted in astonishment, while he was reading consecutive lines. Quite red lips, actually…

"Bloody hell Al, what are you thinking about?", he rebuked himself in his thoughts.

Scorp finished reading.

'And?', asked Al, trying to keep calm.

'Well… Poor Mr Filch.'

'Scorp!'

His friend chuckled.

'What do you want me to say Al? You know I'm not very good at normal functions with your father around…'

'But you won't be alone! I will be there! You don't even have to see my dad, you can be with me all the time.', he said and only after he thought, how might had it sounded. But strangely enough, he didn't care. He placed his hand over Scorpius'. His skin was soft and nice to touch.

Scorp froze. Albus clasped his fingers, and stroked the top of Scorpius' hand with his thumb.

'Al…', said Scorp, almost whispering.

'I'm telling you Scorp. There's no need to worry.'

Albus didn't notice when he had moved so close towards Scorpius, that their noses were barely half inch away from each other.

'I'm scared Al…', whispered the blonde boy, moving his gaze from Al's eyes to the lips and back again.

Albus placed his other hand on the bed, behind Scorpius' back. There was a cramp in his stomach and his heart was beating so fast as if it wanted to get out of the ribcage. They were completely alone. The others hadn't come back from Hogsmeade yet, and Merlin willing that they wouldn't for a long time…

'Everything's going to be okay. Trust me.'

Al closed the distance separating them.

The moment when their lips linked was the moment that Albus woke up rapidly and sat on the bed, breathing quickly.

'What the…?'

* * *

_Oh and P.S. to the Guest that had a problem with people fantasising about children being homosexual – I'm not doing that. And you should write that comment after reading the whole thing, not just the first chapter, where btw nothing's said about them being gay ;)_  
_BW_  
_CookieLizard_


	6. Year six

_Hello, a bit quicker update this time;) This chapter is some sort of 'something to read 'till the last one' so nothing special happens… or does it?  
Anyway, thank you __so much__ for the amount of positive reviews for the previous chapter!  
Now there's only one more to go ;)  
Hope you'll enjoy it!  
_

_CookieLizard_

* * *

The only thing that was on Albus' mind while he was sitting in the Common Room on the Friday afternoon, was how great it was that Rose belonged to a different house.

Over the past few days her friendship with Scorpius had started to irritate him more and more. It looked like they'd really grown close to each other during this past year.

He was driven mad by them laughing at jokes together, studying in the library together. Even the trips to Hogsmeade were not as good as they'd been last year.

Albus noticed that Scorp was acting more confidently around Rose now.

He was about to explode every time they were walking arm in arm, even if Scorp was in the middle holding Albus as well. He couldn't stop thinking that it should be just the two of them walking like that. Without Rose.

He snorted contemptuously.

His eyes wandered to Scorpius who was studying peacefully.

"Now that's the right thing", he thought, "Scorp. On his own. Studying. _On his own_."

He couldn't stand the amount of thoughts racing in his head, so he decided to go to his ultimate source of life knowledge. He didn't know where to find her, but he figured that the library might've been a good place to start. It turned out that his hunch was true, because there she was, surrounded by books. As usual.

' 'Ello, Lils.'

'Go away, I'm busy.', she murmured automatically, ' Oh, Al.', she said when she raised her head, 'Well that's a new one. You in the library? Did you get lost?'

'Funny. I've been looking for you. I need to talk to you.'

She closed a heavy-looking book.

'What's wrong?'

'I… I don't know where to start… It's just…'

'Al, I don't have the whole day, I have loads of stuff to do…'

'It's just Scorp and Rose. Is there something going on between them?', he threw out in one breath.

Lily first looked surprised, but then she laughed.

'No, why would you even think that?'

'Because… Scorp is kinda different lately and he goes everywhere with her…'

'With her?'

'Well… Yeah, with her.'

'She's your friend since like forever, why won't you call her by her name?'

'Uh Lils, you're just picking on me…'

'Fine. But he wants to go everywhere with Rose alone or with both of you?'

'Um… I don't know… With both of us… I suppose… But it looks like he only wants to go with her… Rose. And they spend a lot of time together and all, because of my practice. And he looks more confident around her…'

'Hmmmm… Well, for now it looks like it's Scorpius that bothers you more than both of them…'

'No. No, no, no, no, no. No. Totally both of them.'

'You're neglecting a lot.'

'Lils!'

'Oh, Al…', her eyes widen suddenly, 'Of course… It's so obvious!'

'What? What is?'

'You're in love!'

'Sorry?', Albus laughed.

'I cannot believe I haven't noticed 'till now… Tell me, what do you feel, when you see them together?'

Albus took his time to think about it. He didn't know where his sister was going with it, and he was afraid where his answer might've taken her. He decided to be honest after all.

'Jealousy. Horrible jealousy.'

'But are you jealous of Scorp or of Rose? Or of both of them? Are you scared that they will become closer friends and they will leave you?'

'Well… No.'

'No what?'

'I'm not afraid that they will leave me and…'

'… and it's not about Rose?', when he didn't answer, she clapped with a smile, 'I knew it! Albus, you're in love!'

'In Rose?', he asked daftly.

'No, you idiot… And gross, she's your cousin for Merlin's sake! You're in love with Scorpius.'

Albus laughed.

'Oh come on Lily, don't be ridiculous… Yes he is my close friend, but if you haven't noticed, I fancy girls!'

'Well, maybe you fancy Scorpius more than all girls?'

'I don't! And stop it. End of the subject.'

'Okay, have it your way…', she said and shrugged. There was something in her eyes though, hinting that she wasn't about to let it go so easily.

'Hello you two, why are you maltreating your brother Lils?', Hugo sat in front of the siblings.

'She's not… It's just…'

'Albus thinks that there is something going on between Scorpius and Rose.'

'Lily!'

'What? It's his sister. Don't you think he might help?'

Hugo laughed.

'No worries Al, Rose is not into Scorpius for sure. Trust me. If she was, she wouldn't let me live, talking about him every minute of her life…'

'Are you sure?'

'Ask her. She's your friend after all. And family.'

'Yeah… But even if she doesn't feel anything, what if Scorpius does?'

'And you can't ask him because…?', asked Lily smirking.

'Of course I can! In fact, I will do that right now.', he stood up rapidly. 'Yes. I'm going now. Bye!'

'Bye…'

'See ya.'

He waved to them and came back to the Common Room. He didn't know why, but he felt a bit stressed about the conversation that was about to come.

Scorpius was sitting in exactly the same spot that Al had left him, reading the same book. Albus smiled to himself when he realized this and approached his friend.

'Scorp… Can we talk?'

'Yeah, sure…', Scorp looked at him with both curiosity and fear in his eyes.

'So, Scorp.'

'Me.'

'Scorp do you have feelings for Rose? As if, you know… More than friendly feelings?'

For a second he thought that Scorp was about to laugh, but when he spoke, his voice was calm.

'For Rose? No, Al! Why? I mean… She's great. But she's my friend! Only a friend!'

'Oh…'

Albus felt relief, filling up his body.

'Why do you ask?'

'Well… To be honest…. I have no idea. I mean… You spend a lot of time together, because of my practises and I suppose I was just afraid that you would leave me. If you suddenly started dating… What's so amusing?', he asked because Scorp laughed suddenly.

'No, nothing…', he said still grinning.

'Scorp!'

'No really, trust me. Nothing. I'm sorry. And you shouldn't be worried, this is never going to happen. I couldn't leave you…', he flushed.

Al smiled at this sight.

"Ah, good old, adorable Scorp.", he thought, "Wait… Adorable? I must stop think of him like that…"

He didn't care what Lily thought. Scorpius was his best friend. He was going to prove to her, that he was only his friend. And he even knew how.

* * *

'How come?...'

Scorp was looking at Al, not being able to believe what he had just heard. Al's smile and excitement faded away as soon as he saw that his friend didn't share his enthusiasm.

'Well… I thought you'd be happy…'

Scorp snorted. Happy… About Al telling him that he'd just invited Rachel Holmes on a date on the Valentine's day. Of course Al didn't have the faintest clue that this would irritate Scorpius, but the blonde boy forgot about his mask for a second and was visibly showing his disapproval.

'Why would you even came up with the idea of asking her Al? I've never heard you talking about her… '

Al hesitated.

'Well… She's kinda pretty…', Scorp snorted again, 'I don't understand your problem, really…'

'Oh, come on Al, really? It's just… ', he didn't know what to say, 'It's just, one does not invite a girl on a date, just because he thinks she's "kinda pretty"…'

"Smooth…", he thought.

'Oh well, like you cared…'

'Excuse me?'

'Since when are you interested so much in girls Scorp? You've never cared about them…'

Scorp froze. This was too much.

'Fine. Never mind. Do whatever you like.'

He turned on his heel and ran out of the Common Room, driven by anger.

'Scorp, I'm sorry! Scoooorp!', Albus was yelling, but Scorpius wasn't paying attention. He suddenly saw a fire-red head in the crowd and followed it quickly.

'Oi, Rosie! Wait.'

'Scorp!', she turned to him, a bit surprised, 'What's up?', she asked with a smile.

'There's Hogsmead next weekend, maybe we could go together?'

'On the Valentine's Day?'

'Can't two friends spend some time on the Valentine's Day together? If I remember correctly, you don't have anyone to go with, and neither do I, so why shouldn't we just go together? It will be better than sitting in our rooms alone.'

He was throwing the words out much sharper than usually, because he could still feel the anger running through his veins.

Rose bit her lip.

'What about Al?'

Scorp felt a cramp in his stomach.

'Nothing…', he answered cheerlessly.

'What happened?'

'We… We got in a small argument…'

'Why?'

'He's going with Rachel…'

'Holmes?'

Scorpius nodded.

'But he hardly knows her!'

'I know…'

Rose rolled her eyes.

'Ah boys! Worse than children… Of course I will go with you, but you two better sort this out soon!'

* * *

"Scorp's here with Rose because they are friends. This is not a date. This _cannot_ be a date."

Rachel was blabbing something over his head, but he wasn't paying attention very much. He wrapped his thoughts around the table where Scorpius and Rose were sitting. He couldn't understand, why they were in this tea house for generic lovebirds, with all these Cupids and hearts, on the Valentine's day. He felt fire burning up his insides every time they burst out laughing.

"But Scorp told me that there wasn't anything between them… Why would he lie?"

Well, he knew exactly why.

"Is he teasing me? Is this his vision of revenge for Rachel?"

He shook his head.

"Noo, Scorpius wouldn't do that. He's too… Lovely… for that."

He felt warmth in his heart and he smiled weakly, when he saw his friend's face in his mind's eyes. His kind face, full of happiness and gentleness.

He didn't quite understand, why he was feeling the way he was feeling. He heard Lily's words in his head.

"No, Albus. Get a grip. Stop thinking about it…"

'… and then I told her that she must have been burned by a Blast-Ended Skrewt if she'd thought that Mark would've done it… Al?'

'What? Oh yes, yeees…'

'Were you even listening?'

'Of course Ellie, how couldn't I?', he sent her one of his nonchalant smiles.

'Well?'

'Well what?'

'What was I talking about?'

'Aboout…'

'Ah Al… I'll let it go this time, pinning it on my wonderful personality that apparently occupied your mind, but please, at least try to pretend you're making an effort next time, okay?', she winked.

'Sure Ellie… Listen, can we go somewhere else?'

'Why, it's so cosy here!'

'I know but I can't focus… As much as I should… On your wonderful personality.', he said, choosing his words carefully. He sent her another seductive look, and brushed his fingers against her hand casually-like. Rachel blushed a bit.

'You need to teach me some of your tricks Al, really…'

* * *

For the whole time, Scorpius wasn't able to focus on the conversation with Rose, but was glancing furtively at Al and Rachel. Awful Rachel. She wasn't even that pretty…

Suddenly, the pair stood up and started walking towards the exit.

'Why do you think they're leaving?'

'Scorp…'

He could tell it from her expression, that his face must have been an open book. He was trying to hide his feelings quickly behind the mask but it was too late. She knew. He could see it in her eyes. It took a long time for the penny to drop, but if she hadn't noticed for four years that Scorp hadn't fancied girls, why would she notice that he fancied Al?... Right now, however, she was looking at him with understanding . Like all pieces found their places in the puzzle. He sank into the chair, dispirited.

'Oh Rosie… You must think I'm pathetic…'

'No Scorp. Quite opposite actually… I think it's perfectly understandable.', she took his hand, smiling warmly, 'Since when…?'

'Fourth grade. When I was lying in the hospital after that accident at Potions. Al was with me most of the time and… Well… I understood I wanted him to be with me always… That I can't function normally without him…'

He hid his face in his hands. He had been carrying it inside him for two years. Finally, saying it out loud gave him a relief, but also made it actually real…

He felt Roses fingers clasping on his hand again. He didn't want to burst into tears in front of her although she was like a sister to him.

'Scorp… I think you should tell him.'

He looked at her in disbelief.

'You must be joking…'

'Seriously. How do you know, he won't say the same?'

Now he was looking at her, as if she'd gone completely mad.

'Excuse me?', he almost laughed, 'You've just seen him here _with a girl_!'

'I know Scorp, but… Ah, you must understand. Albus thinks that this is what should be. That he should be with a girl. I don't think he has special feelings towards her, apart from that he might appreciate her looks. He thinks it's normal. He doesn't know that this person that'd be really close to him might be someone completely different. He's not aware that such option even exists. He was always surrounded by crowds… He's famous after all. And yet he never took advantage of any of these situations… He always preferred to spend time with us… With you. Rachel is the first girl he's ever asked anywhere. Have you never thought of this?

Of course he had. But he laughed at himself and his stupid hopes. But now… Maybe they weren't so stupid after all?

* * *

Ellie was close. Very close. They had found themselves a quiet corner and had spent the last hour chatting. But now, Rachel moved closer, clearly aiming for making the next step. Their noses were almost touching. He noticed she had freckles.

"How funny…", he thought, "Scorpius has freckles…"

And suddenly her face changed into Scorpius'.

Al pulled away rapidly.

'What?', she asked, disoriented, 'Too soon? I'm sorry, I thought…'

'No… No, Ellie, it's not your fault, I… I'm sorry.'

'It's okay Al. It's getting late anyway. Maybe we could finish it next time.', she said flirty and kissed him on the cheek.

He watched her walking away towards the Ravenclaw tower. He felt as if he was petrified with fear and shock, he wasn't able to move. It wasn't the fact that he didn't want to kiss her that scared him the most. It was the fact, that he would have kissed her gladly, if only she really had been Scorpius.


	7. Year seven

_Hello!_

_Sorry for the delay again._

_So here it is, the last one, I hope you'll like it._

_Thank you for getting through this story with Al and Scorp, and leaving your support via following, favouring and reviewing. They appreciate it and I do even more :)_

_So enjoy the last piece of the story and see you in another one perhaps, sometime in the future ;)_

_CookieLizard_

* * *

Scorpius was welling up as he was packing up his trunk. The last year of Hogwarts was about to come. The last year with Albus…

He felt a cramp in his stomach, when he thought of it. He wanted to burst into tears.

Tomorrow would be the first time he would see him in two months.

But the sight alone would not be enough… Scorpius would give up a lot of things, just to be able to speak with his friend like he used to.

Their issues started when Al and Rachel officially became a couple. Scorp couldn't bear it. He couldn't be around her, he couldn't look at them.

So he started to avoid Al.

And after many arguments, caused by Al trying to find out what was making Scorpius act like that, they stopped talking at all.

They spent the last two months of the school year, shunning each other.

Rose's constant pleas weren't helping. It seemed like the end of their friendship.

The only silver lining, very small, which was making Scorp feel a bit better was the fact that for some reason, Rose seemed to be on his side. Of course she hadn't just stopped talking to Al, but she'd spent much less time with him. It wasn't hard anyway, because when he wasn't training, he was seeing Rachel…

Scorpius flinched at the thought only. He had never felt so bad before. He wanted Albus to be happy, because when he was, Scorp was happy as well… But the pain he felt every time Al mentioned him was unbearable.

'Are you alright sweetie?'

'Yes mum…' , he tried to answer normally, but his voice cracked. His mother approached and hugged him. The unwanted tears, poured out of his eyes.

She wasn't trying to say anything to make him feel better. She was just there, hugging him. A silent understanding. She let him cry his pain out. She pulled away after a while and looked at him with a weak smile.

'You're the best thing that ever happened to me and your dad. Don't you ever forget that.', she said kindly, 'And never forget that you were the one who taught Draco Malfoy how to love.'

Scorp laughed weakly, although what she said sounded serious. He nodded, not able to say a word.

She placed a kiss on his forehead and left the room, leaving him as sad as he'd been before but with a less heavy heart.

* * *

'Albus…'

'Don't even start Lily…'

'Albus, you are the biggest idiot in the Universe.'

'I've told you…'

'And now I'm telling you. And you're about to listen. Now.'

Al got scared when he saw how much his sister resembled their mum at that moment. He knew exactly what she wanted to say, but he didn't want to listen.

'Lily I really don't feel like it…'

'Why do you keep shying away from it?! It's natural Al… Seriously, we all would understand…'

'No Lily, you wouldn't. _You_ don't! I have no feelings towards him, I…'

'… broke up with my girlfriend by an owl, because I'd not been able to kiss her for more than sixty seconds?'

'That was not the reason I broke up with her! She just…'

'She just wasn't Scorpius.'

'Stop it!'

'No. You stop it. You're acting like a child…'

She looked at him with a disgust he'd never seen before.

'Lily… I…'

'Okay, fine. Whatever. Do what you want. Be an idiot. Why would I care…'

She said and left the room, slamming the door.

Albus dropped onto his bed, hiding his face in his hands.

'What should I do?...', he sobbed into the empty space.

* * *

He'd seen him on the platform. He'd seen him on the train. Rachel hadn't been with him. Had they broken up?... He told himself off for those stupid hopes.

The sight of Mr Potter brought back a wave of memories.

How he'd met him for the first time, right after the first class, because Albus had insisted so much. And how he hadn't been capable of speaking a single word, because he'd felt so intimidated.

How two years ago, he'd spent part of his summer holidays in Potters' house, feeling like the happiest person in the world. He was with Albus almost for the whole time…

Two years. Seemed like ages right now.

Rose didn't say a word about Albus during the whole journey, though he saw in her eyes that she wanted to start this conversation. He knew that she was angry with both of them, but she was also aware of what Scorpius was going through.

When they stopped at the Hogsmeade station, Lily entered their compartment.

'Hey… Rose, can I have a moment with Scorpius, please?'

Rose frowned at first, but then she shrugged her arms.

'Sure.', she said.

'Scorp…', Lily started when Rose left, 'Albus is someone more than a friend to you, isn't he?'

'I… Why are you asking me such thing, Lily?'

'Because I can see how terrible you both are without each other… For Merlin's sake, Scorp… Don't you think you should talk about it?'

'Well, if we were still able to talk with one another…'

'You are Scorp. You just need to try.'

* * *

The sight of Scorpius on the platform was more painful that he'd expected. Suddenly, he felt someone's hand on his shoulder.

'Can we talk?'

It was James.

'Are you okay?'

James laughed.

'Yes, junior. Look.', he spoke, dragging him away from curious looks, 'I just wanted you to know that whatever you feel, to whoever you feel, we… We are here for you. Always. You have nothing to be scared of, bro.'

Al squinted.

'Lily sent you.'

'Well… yeah.', he laughed, 'Yes, she did. But I can see that something is wrong with you and I think I know what… _who_ caused that. Don't you care about anything, little Al. Do what you have to do.'

'Wow, James… You… You actually _do_ have empathy!'

'Yeah, yeah, very funny junior.'

He straightened his jacket with the Weasley Wheezes emblem on it. He was about to start to work there this year as an assistant.

The train whistled.

'Gotta go James. Thanks.', he told his brother, looking at him with a genuine gratitude in his eyes.

'No probs, mate. Any time. Let me know if you need a lube or something…'

'Aghr… James… Gross!'

Al flinched. James burst out laughing.

'Now you're saying that. See you at Christmas!'

* * *

They were sitting quite far away from each other at the Great Feast. Scorpius noticed how Al looked furtively at him a few times, but they both turned their gazes away quickly.

When they entered the dormitory, they also didn't really have an opportunity to talk, so they just went to sleep taking, as usual, beds next to each other.

Scorpius could have sworn that Al, just like him, was lying with his eyes open, turned in Scorp's direction.

When he woke up the next morning, the dormitory was empty. Scared that he overslept, he ran quickly to the bathroom. When he got to the door and reached to the handle, it opened widely.

And it was no one other than Albus himself, that stood there.

They pierced one another with sad gazes.

'It's free…', said Al.

And they walked past each other without a word.

But no sooner had Scorpius turned the tap on, when he heard Albus' voice again.

'Scorp… What the hell are we doing?', he stood in the door, looking down, 'Don't you think it's stupid?', he gazed at him with his green eyes.

'I don't know Al… But it's terribly hard for me…', he felt he blushed a bit.

'It is for me too…', said Al, taking a step forward, 'Couldn't we just go back to where we were?'

'I don't know Al… You think we can?'

Silence fell. After a while, Al suddenly announced:

'I broke up with Rachel.'

Scorp froze. He fought hard not to burst out with joy.

'Why?', he managed to say, trying to stay calm.

'Well. She wasn't yo… She wasn't what I needed.'

Scorp let go of Al's slip, although he felt his heart going up his throat.

Silence fell again, and once again it was broken by Albus.

'So… Do you think we could talk normally again?'

Scorpius smiled.

'Of course… Easy question…'

* * *

The next weeks were probably the most wonderful time in Albus' life at that time. Quite odd, but still wonderful.

Everyone was happy and relieved that they made up and Rose was just glowing. Hugo also started grinning at them, much more often than he'd done before.

The only person that kept the distance was Lily. And Albus knew why. From some reason, she couldn't forgive him for hiding his feelings towards Scorpius, and frankly he himself didn't even know if he had any (except the fact that he sometimes had very weird dreams about his friend that were anything but friendly).

His sister was avoiding both of them, as if this was her way of making them sit down and talk about everything.

Of course, according to Albus, it was pointless, because none of them was in a hurry to have such a conversation.

Apart from this, however, Albus still felt amazingly happy. It seemed like he and Scorpius were having great contact, like they never had before.

But there was something else that appeared.

Chemistry.

Albus didn't know why, but every time they were alone, the air suddenly got much heavier… The tension was clearly palpable. It wasn't awkward. It was pleasant. Addictive, in some way…

Perhaps he wasn't sure about his feelings, but he knew that when this amazing tension appeared, he just wanted to lean forward and…

* * *

"Merlin's beard, how he throws this hair…"

'What?', asked Al, seeing Scorp's intense stare.

'No, nothing…', he answered, flushing.

'I felt like you were staring right through me…'

'Oh come on Al…'

'… but I don't mind. You can stare as much as you want.', he winked.

Scorpius felt his insides turning upside down. How was he doing it? How? _How_?

They were sitting under the tree next to the lake. The sun was shining in the last rays of warm, autumn whether. It's reflections were dancing happily in Albus' hair, who was raking his fingers through it from time to time, or shaking his head, to hold its artistic mess. Every time he did that, Scorpius' heart wanted to escape his ribcage.

He swallowed.

He noticed that Rose was leaving them alone more and more often. It seemed like everyone made a silent pact of matchmaking them together.

But that plan wasn't working and Scorpius doubted it ever would.

"Albus is straight.", he kept telling himself, "He won't be with you."

He didn't care though, that Albus might never be with him. These last weeks were so amazing, that he didn't want to change that.

For then, at least.

Because what would happen if Al got another girlfriend?

Would he get through this the next time?

Al shook his head again.

"Whatever…", Scorpius thought and stared at him, hypnotized.

* * *

Al trembled with cold. The beginning of December greeted Hogwarts with a very rough snow. Scorp, however, for some reason wanted to sit outside and admire the frozen lake.

'Scoooorp…', he moaned, 'I'm cold, can we please go back now?'

His friend giggled.

'No Albus, look how beautiful it is!'

'Yeah, sure… Frozen snots…', he grunted and looked with disgust at the icicles hanging from trees. A sudden idea came to him. He didn't know how Scorpius would react to this, but he decided to give it a go. He clasped his arms around Scorp's waist and rested his head on his shoulder, so that their cheeks were almost touching. He thought that Scorpius shivered a little.

'Al…?'

'I told you I was cold…', he purred into his ear, 'Now I'm a lot warmer.'

Indeed, a pleasant wave of warmth and satisfaction swam across his body, but he didn't know though, whether it was because he'd found a source of warmth or that this source was Scorp…

He thought he'd heard Scorpius snorting.

'What's so amusing?'

'No, it's nothing, it's just… When you breath out, you sort of…'

Al understood. The air he was exhaling was simply tickling Scorpius.

'Oh… You mean… Like that?', he asked innocently and blew gently below his ear. Scorp flinched rapidly.

'Yes Al, exactly like that!'

'Mhmmmm… Is that any better?', he teased him and poked his neck with his nose. What was more, his nose was terribly cold, which made Scorpius bend his knees and laugh uncontrollably.

'Haha, no… Al… No… Hahaha…'

And then suddenly, not knowing what had made him do this, Albus ran his lips on Scorp's neck down from the ear and back up. He felt Scorpius freeze. He pulled his face away rapidly, yet still holding him.

'Well… Yeah… So… Now we know where your weak point is!', he laughed awkwardly, trying to loosen the tension.

'Yeah…'

Scorp turned his face to look at him. They suddenly got very close.

Albus' eyes were eagerly exploring every detail of Scorpius' face. His wonderful silver eyes, surrounded by amazing, long eyelashes. His beautiful, adorable freckles… Yes, adorable. He wasn't afraid of admitting it anymore. Scorpius was adorable. Everything in him was making Al want to hug him and never let go. His gaze stopped at his gently blue cold lips.

"I could warm them up…", he thought suddenly.

And then, when completely uncontrollably the vision of him and Scorp kissing came to his mind, he felt something that frightened him like nothing had frightened him before.

_He was getting hard._

He pulled away rapidly, so that Scorp wouldn't feel anything. His heart begun beating faster and he thanked himself for choosing longer coat. He couldn't understand what had happened and why…

Frankly… He didn't understand a lot of thing lately.

* * *

When Al pulled away, Scorp felt a final impulse that made his mood change drastically.

"Idiot… Why would you even think that…"

He shook his head, couldn't believe in his stupidity and naivety.

For a moment he had honestly hoped that Al had planned to make a move…

He felt tears burning his eyes.

"Oh no…"

He did one thing that he'd thought would be right, though it really was stupid and rapid – he ran away towards the castle.

He walked quickly, not paying attention to Al's calls.

Tears started escaping his eyelids.

He was fed up with it.

With the constant hope, with the constant fooling himself that friendship with Al had been all he'd ever wanted and he hadn't been counting on something more.

He _had _been counting on something more.

He didn't look at anyone in the Common Room, he ran straight towards his dormitory, slamming the door.

He threw his coat on his trunk and sat on his bend, face hidden in his hands.

After a couple of minutes though, he felt like he couldn't just sit on the bed. He stood up and started walking around the room with his arms crossed on his chest. He tried to calm himself down.

"Breathe Scorp…"

He was a bit cheered up with the fact that he wasn't crying anymore.

"You cannot act like this Scorp. You need to get a grip. Albus is your friend. Just a friend. You mustn't count on anything more."

But, unfortunately only Al's name, spoken in his mind was too painful. He stopped and looked through the window, at the greenish depths on the lake.

"What the hell did you get yourself into, Scorp…"

* * *

"Take a grip, for Merlin's sake…"

Albus had got himself back to a normal state. _Completely_ normal state. He stood there as if he was petrified for a long moment.

Then he realised that Scorp was half way towards the castle.

'Scorp! Scooorp!'

He didn't answer. He didn't stop.

Al felt terrible. He didn't know if Scorpius was running away because he'd felt something, or there was another reason, but he felt completely horrible.

He ran after him. His barely calmed heart started to beat like crazy once again. He turned towards the dormitory, instinctively.

When he opened the door, he saw Scorpius standing there with his arms crossed, looking through the window with the same melancholy, he'd seen in his eyes the very first time they'd met.

He stepped forward, hesitantly.

'Scorp…'

* * *

The sight of Albus didn't surprise Scorpius, but it irritated a bit.

On the other hand though, if he hadn't wanted Al to find him, he would have chosen a better place to hide himself.

"Pathetic idiot…"

'Scorp… What's going on?'

He looked at this marvellous eyes, full of concern. If only he could tell him, what was going on… But he couldn't. How could he? What would he possibly say?

"I'm sorry Al, but being with you makes me unable to think clearly, because all the time I dream of being held in your arms forever"? "Your smile gives me shivers and when I see you I feel like the happiest person in the world"? "When we're together everything feels just _right_"?

* * *

Scorpius was looking at him with his sad eyes. Albus regretted pulling away and his reaction so much… Everything had been so perfect before…

"Yeah… Perfect…"

He took his hand. He'd never done this before (apart from the time through the bandages). His skin was as soft, as he'd always imagined.

"Yes Albus. You _have _thought of this. You have thought of how his skin was. You are thinking about how his lips feel. You're scared that one day, he won't be by your side anymore. And you feel the happiest, when you're with him. You know you _belong _with him."

'Damn you, Lily…'

'What?', asked Scorp, disoriented.

Albus looked at him seriously like he'd never looked at him before, yet smiling delicately.

'I love you Scorp.'

And before Scorpius could say a word, Albus closed his surprised mouth in a gentle kiss.

* * *

"What's actually going on? Is Albus actually kissing me right now? Did he just actually say…"

Scorpius couldn't believe.

He couldn't _understand _what was going on.

"But… Ah, screw it…"

He didn't want to think anymore. He wrapped his arms around Al's neck. He could feel his hands on his waist, his nape. Al's fingers immersed in Scorpius' hair. He lost himself in that moment, that he'd been waiting for, for so long. That moment which he'd been acting out in his mind over, and over again.

But this was far better than anything he'd ever dreamed about.

It was _real_.

He pulled away for a brief while, breaking this wonderful moment.

Albus looked at him with a shadow of fear in his eyes.

'Did I…? I'm sorry if that's…', he asked shyly.

'Well, you took your time, I must admit.', said Scorp, 'You're an idiot.', he said with a grin and got on his tiptoes to place a quick kiss on his lips. Then, he became serious, but still smiling softly. 'I love you too Albus. I suppose, I always have.'


End file.
